Magnolia Bend Volunteer Fire Department to be terminated

Rachelann Ferris

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, June 11, 2002

The commissioners voted 5-0 Monday night to award the entire district's fire suppression contract to the River Plantation Volunteer Fire Department, which took over the western part of the district about a year ago after a highly publicized dispute between Magnolia Bend and the newly formed RPVFD over its request for funding. The commissioners eventually began funding the RPVFD — a newly formed department — along with Magnolia Bend.

Magnolia Bend firefighter David Tusi said there is no way RPVFD can adequately serve the whole district.

"It's going to be a disservice to this district because they're just going to run out of that one station," Tusi said. "I'm at a loss for words."

The recommendation came from a budget committee made up of two of the ESD commissioners, who were tasked with reviewing the district's financial status. What they found were projected expenditures of $322,000 for the 2002-2003 budget year, although the district can only expect to bring in about $222,000.

"The budget committee and (CPA) Jeannie Hargis believe that the district, with its small budget, cannot afford to fund two volunteer fire departments, particularly where the district is paying duplicate costs for various services such as accounting fees, dispatch service fees, insurance premiums, duplicate sets of duty crew gear, pagers and radios, and various association dues and subscriptions," said committee chairman Ed Blackburn in his proposal to the ESD board.

"There are other pieces of equipment, such as booster trucks, that must be purchased and maintained for each volunteer fire department … and the district is incurring additional expense for duplicate First Responder training for each VFD."

Based on the financial constraints, the committee recommended that the board consolidate firefighting services back to one department, as it was prior to the formation of the RPVFD.

But rather than eliminate the new department, commissioners chose to abolish the Magnolia Bend department for a number of reasons cited in the report.

The report cites the fact that RPVFD has "an adequate number of active firefighters who can serve the entire district," and that the majority of taxable value in ESD 5 is located in River Plantation and Mosswood subdivisions.

Other reasons were cited as well.

"The committee believes that the management of the River Plantation VFD has been more efficient and more responsive to the district board," the report said. "The communication with and the accountability of River Plantation VFD has been excellent. The RPVFD fire chief, its board and members have been cooperative and responsible managers of taxpayer funds. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Magnolia Bend VFD."

The committee members also expressed concern that MBVFD has alienated several area departments and the Montgomery County Fire Chiefs Association, which could create problems when help is needed for a major incident.

A letter to Magnolia Bend residents, provided to The Courier Tuesday by MBVFD, warns citizens that "The commissioners of Montgomery County Emergency Service District No. 5 took away your fire department of 30 years. … The time it takes River Plantation VFD, once they arrive at there (sic) station, to pull a fire truck and the distance they have to travel from River Plantation to Magnolia Bend will add an extra 5 to 10 minutes to respond to any emergency depending on where you live."

The letter also claims that a Montgomery County Hospital District ambulance currently contracted to operate out of the station would no longer be as readily available to Magnolia Bend residents.

But ESD 5 Board President Tony Cutaia, who lives in River Plantation and owns a business in Magnolia Bend, said that claim is false.

"That's a lie, and they know it," Cutaia said when shown the letter. "RP is going to be at both stations. It's just a different name; that's the only change. It's just not feasible to run two separate departments. It has come down to a dollars-and-cents issue. It's not popular at all, but it's the right thing to do. My first responsibility to the taxpayer is to do the right thing with their tax dollars."

Cutaia said consolidating the two departments should allow the board to streamline expenses and reduce financial obligations and debts, which must be paid with funds that could otherwise be used to enhance fire protection.

"The fleet's going to get smaller," Cutaia said of the five vehicles operated by Magnolia Bend and the two housed with RPVFD. "I see us setting it up so there's an engine and a rescue truck at RP, and an engine and a grass fire truck at Magnolia Bend. Why do you need more than that when you have mutual aid between two stations and other departments? There's no reason we can't get rid of a lot of overhead we've got."

RPVFD Fire Chief Jim McKenzie said he plans to staff both stations during the day, even if the ESD won't fund a paid duty crew to man the stations. Magnolia Bend has paid a lone firefighter to man the station from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

"Our goal is to make sure no station goes unmanned," McKenzie said. McKenzie has been given 30 days to submit a revised budget based on coverage of the entire 41-square-mile district.

"RPVFD Board of Directors has voted unanimously to accept the request by the ESD No. 5 to provide emergency services to the entire district. … Both stations within the district will be occupied with RPVFD members to provide the highest quality emergency services available to the entire district."

Cutaia said the two departments could have possibly been saved if they had been willing to work together as a cohesive unit, but longtime animosity made that impossible.

"They don't want anything to do with each other," Cutaia said. "But I would just about bet the rent money that in six months, the majority of real honest-to-goodness firefighters that are really committed at Magnolia Bend will be back in the same building, fighting fires, wearing an RP jacket. They do this because they want to help, not because it's called Magnolia Bend or RP."

But the three firefighters at the Magnolia Bend station Tuesday afternoon disagreed.

"I wouldn't go in there," said Huffmaster when asked if he would continue to protect the district under the name of RPVFD, along with Tusi and Jonathan Wylie.

"It's going to be the same politics," Tusi said. "They need to do away with the politics."

The next ESD meeting is scheduled for July 8 at the RPVFD station at 674 Chapel Hill Road.